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dinsdag 31 juli 2012

Television Critics Association panels often feel like softball games, where actors and producers swing at softly lobbed questions along the lines of, "How do you balance so many great projects?"

Monday's "Dexter" panel was a rare exception.

Things took their first turn for the awkward when one reporter asked co-stars and former spouses Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter to describe what they liked about each other's acting. (They paid each other some lovely compliments, with Hall calling Capenter "the best scene partner I've ever had.")

And then things got less comfortable. The show's previous season, it's sixth, was criticized for a widely spoiled reveal involving Edward James Olmos' character. The season was also denied an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Drama Series after "Dexter" was nominated for four years straight.

One reporter noted -- with tactful phrasing -- that the show's sixth season is also often considered its "sixth best," and asked the writers if they had any changes in mind.

Gasp.

"That's a very loaded question," said executive producer Sara Colleton. "We have the same writers and we are going to do what we do every year, which is to reach down and find something unique and original and true about these characters to advance them."

Added Hall: "Whatever your opinion about ranking the seasons, I will say that for my money 'Dexter' is never more compelling than when he is in trouble. And he's never been in deeper trouble than he is now."

That's because the show is making a change that can't help but heighten the drama: Season 6 ended with Dexter's sister, Deb (Carpenter) catching him in the act of committing a murder. Until now, Dexter (Hall) has been able to conceal his murdering ways from those closest to him.

Several questions later, Carpenter asked if she could return to the "sixth best" question.

"If you had asked that question before we'd shot a single frame this year, that might have hurt my feelings," she told the reporter who asked it. "But because I know what we're doing this year, I'm really excited."

The panelists were also asked what they would do if they, like Deb, discovered their sibling was a serial killer.

ABC has canceled Willard's improv comedy series "Trust Us With Your Life," less than two weeks after Willard was arrested for allegedly committing a lewd act in a Hollywood adult theater.

An individual familiar with the situation told that the cancelation was unrelated to Willard's arrest. Indeed, the series' ratings suggest that no other rationale was needed to ax the show. After inauspicious premiere numbers, the series eventually dropped to a 0.6 rating/2 share in the 18-49 demo most important to advertisers, the week after Willard's arrest.

The two remaining episodes have been pulled from the network's schedule.

Shortly after his arrest, which occurred during a routine inspection by LAPD vice officers, Willard was dropped as the host from the PBS antiques show "Market Warriors," which had premiered just two days prior to the arrest.

Last week Willard crowed about his continued involvement with "Trust Us With Your Life" while promoting the latest episode, writing, "I was not fired from TUWYL so B sure 2 watch Trust Us With your life Tues, ABC 9" in a tweet.

President Obama has called "Homeland" one of his favorite shows, and the show's male lead, Damian Lewis, got to ask the commander in chief exactly when he finds time to watch.

Lewis was invited to the White House in March during a state dinner for British Prime Minister David Cameron.

How did he score the invitation? "I'm a Brit playing an American," he said. "I kind of ticked a lot of boxes."

He said he had a moment to talk with Obama and Cameron about the show.

"I did ask... when you guys get to watch TV, aren't you supposed to be running the free world together? ... He said, yes, Saturday afternoons, Michelle and the two girls go play tennis, and I go in the Oval Office, I pretend I'm gonna work, and I switch on 'Homeland.'"

The Only Way is Essex stars are reportedly facing the sack following recent walkouts.

Several cast members of the ITV2 series were recently said to have walked out of filming after complaining about low pay and long working hours.

However, producers have now allegedly sent out a warning letter to cast members telling them that they may be axed if they keep halting production.

"Bosses aren't prepared to take any nonsense," an insider told The Sun.

"They know some cast members have been complaining about long hours and low pay, but have told them to stop whingeing and get on with it.

"Producers are particularly annoyed about time-keeping and the way some of them treat production staff. The stars have been told they have to start arriving on time and must be respectful to the crew."

The source added: "They have been told nobody is bigger than the show - and if they don't like it they should leave as there are loads of people who'd replace them in a heartbeat.

"Even though the cast only get paid £80 a day, they earn thousands from personal appearances and deals they wouldn't get if they weren't on the show, so producers feel in a strong position."

Mary-Louise Parker wants to return to television after the finale of "Weeds," an episode so "beautiful" that she wept upon reading it.

Parker says she will appear in an as-yet-untitled movie that begins shooting Saturday, and will then shoot a sequel to "Red." Then she hopes to return to television, which she said she prefers to film.

The actress, a three-time Emmy nominee for "Weeds," spoke at a Television Critics Association panel for the show's final season.

"I just cried when I read it," she said of the final script. ""I think it's beautiful."

In the film before the "Red" sequel, Parker said, she will play two roles: a suicidal, alcoholic mother, and a "patron saint of teenage boys" who is both sexy and motherly.

The papers, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, cite irreconcilable differences as the reason for the separation.

Nassif and businesswoman Maloof have been married since May 2002. They have three sons: Gavin, 9, and six-year-old twins Christian and Collin.

The papers make note of a prenuptial agreement. (Maloof is one of the owners of Maloof Companies, whose holdings include the Palms Casino and Resort in Las Vegas and the Sacramento Kings basketball team.)

Separate and community property held by the couple will be determined in an amended petition. According to the filing, Nassif is asking that the court not be allowed to award spousal support to Maloof.

A representative for Maloof has not yet responded to TheWrap's request for comment.

Season 3 of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" will premiere in September.

Showtime will end "The Big C" with four one-hour episodes, the network announced. The abbreviated season will be the fourth for the Laura Linney cancer dramedy.

The network also announced plans for a documentary about music executive Tommy Mottola by director Brett Ratner. It joins a slate of previously announced documentaries, including one about former Vice President Dick Cheney.

The announcements came during Showtime President David Nevins' panel at the Television Critics Association summer press tour. He said he "wouldn't assume anything" about how the Emmy-nominated series would end.

"We've been having a lot of really interesting creative conversations. It's really important with a premium network that shows be able to plan their ending and do it the right way," he said. "They've got a very interesting and novel, and I think sort of form-breaking way to handle where the show is going."

He also showed clips of the upcoming "Masters of Sex" and "Ray Donovan" and found himself answering a slew of questions about the lifespans of his current shows.

He said "Episodes" was expected to return and that "The Borgias," now shooting its third season, would likely go for four seasons as originally planned. He also repeated his expectation that "Dexter" -- which returns with "Homeland" on Sept. 30 -- will probably go for two more seasons. But said he wouldn't rule out more.

"I would be stupid if I didn't leave the door open," he said.

He also said no end is in sight for "Homeland," which is beginning its second season. And he said the show was open to killing off major characters if it would help the show maintain credibility.

"Anybody could go at any time," he said.

He also said David Steinbrenner's interview series "Inside Comedy" will be back for a second season.

Nevins also said the network has tried to keep viewers engaged by altering the normal pacing of its plots. On "Homeland," for example, the lead characters slept together at the midpoint of the season instead of saving that for the finale. In the finale, he noted, the Brody character has to decide whether to detonate himself and a slew of government officials fairly early in the episode.

"You keep the audience off balance by making unpredictable choices," he said.

Nevins also said the network changed some of its programming the weekend after the Colorado shootings during a "Dark Knight" screening to avoid upsetting viewers.

Steven Moffat has denied reports that a Doctor Who movie is in development.

Last year, Harry Potter's David Yates claimed that he was working on a film spinoff from the BBC sci-fi drama, but Moffat described the film project as "some weird fantasy".

"I don't think [Yates] was ever signed to it," the showrunner told Entertainment Weekly. "I never signed him, so he's not.

"I think he's [expressed] an interest in doing it and he's a very fine director, and I think he'd certainly be someone that would be on the list for directing such a project. I'm a big fan of his. But the project as he describes it would not happen."

Moffat added that he hopes to produce a Doctor Who movie "someday", but insisted that a proposal for a film reboot - unrelated to the BBC show's continuity - "did not happen".

"That whole proposal was not true," he said. "I can say that with authority because, as far as the BBC is concerned, I'm the voice of Doctor Who. So if I say it, it's true.

"The BBC own Doctor Who and, for the moment, I run it for them. So I can assure you definitively that was all nonsense - not the idea of making a film, we'd love to make a film, but the idea of a rebooted continuity, a different Doctor."

The writer claimed that rebooting Who for the big screen would be "writing the book on how to destroy a franchise".

"[Any future film] will be absolutely run by the Doctor Who production office in Cardiff," he explained. "It will feature the same Doctor as on television. It will not be a rebooted continuity. All of that would be insane."

Looks like the third season of "Boardwalk Empire" will start off with a bang. At least, if the new trailer for the upcoming season of the HBO historical drama is any indication.

In the new snippet from the series, Enoch "Nucky" Thompson (Steve Buscemi) -- who shocked viewers by killing off his associate Jimmy Darmody at the end of season two -- once again goes into life-snuffing mode, gunning down a shadowy stranger as the rain pours down in a no-doubt symbolic indication of his existential situation.

After he puts a second bullet in his target -- this time, as he lies on the ground -- yet more symbolism follows. The pistol drops from his hand, what appears to be an engagement ring slips from his finger and onto the rain-soaked ground, and a flower falls from his lapel.

"You can't be half a gangster," a message that flashes on the screen declares.